Notes and Editorial Reviews

If you're a classical music listener and you've just voluntarily picked up a Sousa recording and placed it in your CD player, you've made a decision to suspend your familiar modes of listening and give yourself over to the sheer visceral pleasure of two-four time, bass drums, trombone accents, swirling upper winds, and triple-tonguing trumpets, all carefully measured and blended into that inimitable brass and reed sonic stew that somehow gets everyone tapping and smiling. Of course, a little of this can go a long way, but if it's played really well, as it is here, it can go farther than you might think, especially if you've heard one too many junior high school bands try to play this tricky music.

If you like this stuff, youRead more probably already have the terrific Frederick Fennell/Eastman Wind Ensemble recording (Mercury Living Presence) that offers not only Sousa's most famous marches but also works by Goldman, Coates, and Prokofiev. This recording, featuring an unlikely but very impressive Slovakian ensemble, doesn't have the big name works, but does contain Sousa's first million-selling piece, The Gladiator march (1886), along with some interesting waltzes (Sandalphon Waltzes), and several of his best-loved non-march pieces: The Coquette (caprice); The Gliding Girl (tango); On Wings of Lightning (gallop); and The Presidential Polonaise. Sousa expert Keith Brion and his orchestral players--all the works are performed by symphony orchestra, not wind band--really seem to love this music, letting all the accents and syncopations have their proper say and giving careful attention to even the smallest details of articulation and phrasing. The disc's programmers saved the best for last, finishing with three works that deserve far more attention in this repertoire: Three Quotations, the Venus March, and Hail to the Spirit of Liberty. [11/26/1999]

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review: ( 1 Customer Review )

Orchestral SousaSeptember 25, 2012By Henry S. (Springfield, VA)See All My Reviews"Many of John Philip Sousa's compositions for band (marches, waltzes, etc.) are easily adaptable for a full symphony orchestra. This excellent recording does exactly that, with the Razumovsky Symphony Orchestra playing 18 selections which have been transcribed for orchestra. The title of the disk 'On Wings of Lightning' is in fact the title of one of the tracks, a lively galop. This is light, fun music which one might even consider an American counterpart to the famous New Years Day concerts by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, given the association of both Sousa and the Strauss family with light, highly entertaining compositions. I used the term 'Sousa Concert' while describing another of Naxos' orchestral recordings of Sousa works, and I think it also applies here with this disk. As usual, the sound quality is excellent, and the performance is top notch. I recommend this disk to all, and especially to those who prefer lighter orchestral fare. You won't be disappointed."Report Abuse